Michael Charles Corballis (10 September 1936 – 13 November 2021) was a New Zealand and Canadian
psychologist
A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...
and author. He was
Emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
Professor at the Department of Psychology at the
University of Auckland
, mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work
, established = 1883; years ago
, endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021)
, budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021)
, chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant
, vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...
. His fields of research were
cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning.
Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, which ...
and
cognitive neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific field that is concerned with the study of the biological processes and aspects that underlie cognition, with a specific focus on the neural connections in the brain which are involved in mental proces ...
, encompassing
visual perception
Visual perception is the ability to interpret the surrounding environment through photopic vision (daytime vision), color vision, scotopic vision (night vision), and mesopic vision (twilight vision), using light in the visible spectrum reflecte ...
,
visual imagery
A mental image is an experience that, on most occasions, significantly resembles the experience of 'perceiving' some object, event, or scene, but occurs when the relevant object, event, or scene is not actually present to the senses. There are ...
,
attention
Attention is the behavioral and cognitive process of selectively concentrating on a discrete aspect of information, whether considered subjective or objective, while ignoring other perceivable information. William James (1890) wrote that "Atte ...
,
memory
Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...
, and the
evolution of language
The origin of language (spoken and signed, as well as language-related technological systems such as writing), its relationship with human evolution, and its consequences have been subjects of study for centuries. Scholars wishing to study th ...
.
Early life and family
Corballis was born in the farming district of
Marton, New Zealand, in 1936, the eldest of four sons of sheep farmers Philip Patrick Joseph Corballis and Alice Elizabeth Harris. In 1962, Corballis married Barbara Elizabeth Wheeler; they had two sons: Paul, also a cognitive neuroscientist, and Tim, a novelist and academic. Barbara Corballis died in 2020.
Education and career
Corballis received his
high-school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
education as a
boarder A boarder may be a person who:
*snowboards
*skateboards
*bodyboards
* surfs
*stays at a boarding house
*attends a boarding school
*takes part in a boarding attack
The Boarder may also refer to:
* ''The Boarder'' (1953 film), a 1953 Soviet drama ...
at
Wanganui Collegiate School
Whanganui Collegiate School (formerly Wanganui Collegiate School; see here) is a state-integrated, coeducational, day and boarding, secondary school in Whanganui, Manawatū-Whanganui region, New Zealand. The school is affiliated to the Anglican c ...
. He earned a
Master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in Mathematics at the
University of New Zealand
The University of New Zealand was New Zealand's sole degree-granting university from 1874 to 1961. It was a collegiate university embracing several constituent institutions at various locations around New Zealand. After it was dissolved in 196 ...
in 1959 and a
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
in psychology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, in 1962. He then moved to
McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
in
Montreal, Quebec
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...
, Canada, where he completed a
PhD in psychology in 1965.
From 1966 to 1968, Corballis returned to University of Auckland as a
lecturer (assistant professor).
In 1968, he returned to McGill, first as an
assistant professor
Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada.
Overview
This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and general ...
of psychology, rising to full professor in 1975.
In 1978, Corballis was appointed professor of psychology at the University of Auckland. From 1993 to 2000, he was also Director of the Research Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience within the department. In 2008, Corballis became
Emeritus Professor
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
. In 2014, he became the university's Inaugural Creativity Fellow.
[ Corballis remained active at the university until his death on 13 November 2021.
In July 2021, Corballis and six other ]University of Auckland
, mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work
, established = 1883; years ago
, endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021)
, budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021)
, chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant
, vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...
professors wrote a controversial letter "In Defence of Science" to the ''New Zealand Listener
The ''New Zealand Listener'' is a weekly New Zealand magazine that covers the political, cultural and literary life of New Zealand by featuring a variety of topics, including current events, politics, social issues, health, technology, arts, f ...
'' magazine, in which they said that Māori knowledge should not be considered in the same category as science because of the former's spiritual content.
Research
During Corballis's years at McGill, the main focus of his research was in cognitive neuroscience, analyzing complex cognitive systems such as perception, attention, and memory, and initiating a research program on cerebral asymmetry
The lateralization of brain function is the tendency for some neural functions or cognitive processes to be specialized to one side of the brain or the other. The median longitudinal fissure separates the human brain into two distinct cerebra ...
. He continued those research areas at University of Auckland. In the 21st century, Corballis's turned to evolutionary biology
Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes (natural selection, common descent, speciation) that produced the diversity of life on Earth. It is also defined as the study of the history of life fo ...
, contributing significantly to complex cognitive processes. Of great interest was his hypothesis that human language evolved from gestures, expressed in the book ''From hand to mouth''; it received more than 1500 citations in its first year.
Over his career, Corballis published more than 400 scientific papers and book chapters, and 14 books. His work was cited more than 27,000 times, giving him a h-index
The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with obvious success indicators such as winn ...
of 77. Corballis supervised the work of at least 14 research assistant
A research assistant (RA) is a researcher employed, often on a temporary contract, by a university, a research institute or a privately held organization, for the purpose of assisting in academic or private research. Research assistants are not in ...
s, graduate student
Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree.
The organization and stru ...
s, and postdoctoral fellow
A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...
s, who, in turn supervised more than 50 students and fellows, leaving a lasting human scientific legacy.
Service
Corballis served in many roles that supported various academic pursuits.
In 2009, he was president of the International Neuropsychological Society
The International Neuropsychological Society is an international non-profit learned society dedicated to promoting research in neuropsychology. It was established in 1967 with only a few members, with its membership growing to about 5,000 by 2015. ...
.
Corballis edited the ''New Zealand Journal of Psychology'' from 1994 to 1997. He founded the journal ''Laterality'' in 1995 and co-edited it until 2008. He also was a member of numerous editorial boards and wrote numerous reviews of scientific manuscripts submitted to scores of journals, of which 137 are recorded in Publons
Publons was a commercial website that provided a free service for academics to track, verify, and showcase their peer review and editorial contributions for academic journals. It was launched in 2012 and was bought by Clarivate in 2017. It claime ...
.
Corballis chaired University of Auckland Review Committees, including the Department of Sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
(1992) and the Department of Engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
Science (2003). He also chaired or was a member of other universities' reviews, including University of Queensland
, mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work
, established =
, endowment = A$224.3 million
, budget = A$2.1 billion
, type = Public research university
, chancellor = Peter Varghese
, vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry
, city = B ...
, Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand.
The university is well kno ...
, University of Otago
, image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg
, image_size =
, caption = University clock tower
, motto = la, Sapere aude
, mottoeng = Dare to be wise
, established = 1869; 152 years ago
, type = Public research collegiate u ...
, and University of Canterbury
The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...
. Corballis performed numerous administrative taks for the Royal Society of New Zealand
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a cit ...
and for the New Zealand Psychological Society
The New Zealand Psychological Society (NZPsS) is one of the professional associations for psychologists in New Zealand. It is the largest professional body for psychologists in New Zealand, providing for both research psychologists and practic ...
.
Corballis served on various research granting and assessing bodies, including New Zealand's Marsden Fund
Marsden grants are the main form of contestable funding for fundamental, 'blue skies' research in New Zealand. Grants are made in all areas of research, in both science and the humanities. The grants are made from the Marsden Fund, which was establ ...
, Health Research Council of New Zealand
The Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) is a Crown agency of the New Zealand Government.
It is responsible for managing the government's investment in health research for the public good.
The HRC was established under the Health Resear ...
, Performance Based Research Fund The Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF) is a New Zealand tertiary education funding process, assessing the research performance of tertiary education organisations (TEOs) and then funding them on the basis of their performance. The PBRF will pro ...
, Australia's Australian Research Council
The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...
, and Canada's National Research Council National Research Council may refer to:
* National Research Council (Canada), sponsoring research and development
* National Research Council (Italy), scientific and technological research, Rome
* National Research Council (United States), part of ...
.
Honours and awards
Corvallis was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
in 1982. In 1999, Corballlis was awarded the Shorland Medal
The Shorland Medal is awarded annually by the New Zealand Association of Scientists in recognition of a "major and continued contribution to basic or applied research that has added significantly to scientific understanding or resulted in signific ...
by the New Zealand Association of Scientists. In the 2002 Queen's Birthday and Golden Jubilee Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit
The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...
, for services to psychological science. In 2016, he received the Royal Society of New Zealand's Rutherford Medal.
Death
Corballis died in November 2021, after a brief battle with cancer. Among those who paid tribute to him was the Harvard professor Steven Pinker
Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954) is a Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist, popular science author, and public intellectual. He is an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind.
P ...
, who described his "beloved former professor" as having done "brilliant work on handedness, mental rotation," and the evolution of language. He further described Corballis as "urbane, charming, witty, irreverent."
Publications
Books
# ''Psychology of Left and Right'' with Ivan L. Beal. John Wiley & Sons (1976)
# ''The Ambivalent Mind: The Neuropsychology of Left and Right'' with Ivan L. Beale. Nelson-Hall (1983)
# ''Human Laterality'', Academic Press (1984)
# ''Memory Mechanisms: A Tribute to Graham Goddard'' with Cliff Abraham and Geoff White (Editors). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (1991)
# ''The Lopsided Ape: Evolution of the Generative Mind''. Oxford University Press (1991)
# ''The Descent of Mind'' with S. E. G. Lea (Editors). Oxford University Press (1999)
# ''Twin Lateralisation'' with C. McManus and M. Peters (Editors). Psychology Press (1999)
''From Hand to Mouth: The Origins of Language''
University Press Group (2003)
# ''The Recursive Mind: The Origins of Human Language, Thought, and Civilization''. Princeton University Press (2011)
# ''Pieces of Mind: 21 Short Walks Around the Human Brain''. Auckland University Press (2011). Republished as ''A Very Short Tour of the Mind''. The Overlook Press, USA (2013)
# ''The Wandering Mind: What the Brain Does When You're Not Looking'' Auckland University Press (2014)
# ''How a Distinguished Scholar was Driven to Kill Herself: The Dark Side of Science''. The Edwin Mellen Press (2016)
# ''The Truth about Language: What It Is and Where It Came From''. University of Chicago Press (2017)
# ''Adventures of a Psychologist: Reflections on What Made Up the Mind''. Routledge (2020)
Selected journal papers
* Corballis, M. C. 2009. "The evolution and genetics of cerebral asymmetry". '' Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B: Biological Sciences'', 364, 867–879.
* Lewald, J., Peters, S., Corballis, M. C., & Hausmann, M. (2009). "Perception of stationary and moving sound following cortectomy". ''Neuropsychologia
''Neuropsychologia'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that focuses on cognitive neuroscience. It was established in 1963, and is published by Elsevier (formerly Pergamon Press
Pergamon Press was an Oxford-based publishing house, founded ...
'', 47, 962–971.
* Milivojevic, B., Hamm, J. P., & Corballis, M. C. (2009). "Functional neuroanatomy of mental rotation". ''Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
The ''Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering cognitive neuroscience. It aims for a cross-discipline approach, covering research in neuroscience, neuropsychology, cognitive psychology, neurobiolog ...
'', 21, 945–959.
* Corballis, M. C. (2009). "The evolution of language". ''Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
The ''Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences'' is an academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the New York Academy of Sciences. It is one of the oldest science journals still being published, having been founded in 1823. The ...
'', 1156, 19–43.
* Suddendorf, T., Addis, D. R., & Corballis, M. C. (2009). "Mental time travel and the shaping of the human mind". ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B: Biological Sciences'', 364, 1317–1324.
More classic & recent journal papers
* 245 citations (Semantic Scholar/DOI) 022-07-25 Corballis, Michael C. (1989). Laterality and human evolution. Psychological Review, 96(3), 492–505. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.96.3.492
* 215 citations (Semantic Scholar/DOI) 022-07-25 Corballis, Michael C. (1997). The genetics and evolution of handedness. Psychological Review, 104(4), 714–727. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.104.4.714
* 173 citations (Semantic Scholar/DOI) 022-07-25 Corballis, Michael C. (2014). Left Brain, Right Brain: Facts and Fantasies. PLoS Biology, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001767
* 172 citations (Semantic Scholar/DOI) 022-07-25 Corballis, Michael C. (1980). Laterality and myth. American Psychologist, 35(3), 284–295. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.35.3.284
* 55 citations (Semantic Scholar/DOI) 022-07-25 Corballis, Michael C., Hattie, J., & Fletcher, R. (2008). Handedness and intellectual achievement: An even-handed look. Neuropsychologia, 46(1), 374–378. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.09.009
* 49 citations (Semantic Scholar/DOI) 022-07-25 Corballis, M C, & Häberling, I. S. (2015). Complementarity or independence of hemispheric specializations? A brief review. Neuropsychologia, (October 2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.12.018
* 26 citations (Semantic Scholar/DOI) 022-07-25 Corballis, Michael C. (2015). What’s left in language? Beyond the classical model. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.12761
* 4 citations (Semantic Scholar/DOI) 022-07-25 Corballis, Michael C. (2021). How Asymmetries Evolved: Hearts, Brains, and Molecules. Symmetry, (6), 914. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym13060914
References
External links
*
Corballis at the University of Auckland
Michael Corballis
The University of Auckland - Academia.edu
Academia.edu is a for-profit open repository of academic articles free to read by visitors. Uploading and downloading is restricted to registered users. Additional features are accessible only as a paid subscription. Since 2016 various social ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corballis, Michael
1936 births
2021 deaths
Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit
New Zealand psychologists
University of Auckland alumni
University of Auckland faculty
Recipients of the Rutherford Medal
People from Marton, New Zealand
People educated at Whanganui Collegiate School
McGill University Faculty of Science alumni
McGill University faculty
Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand